Will China Retaliate US THAAD Deployment In South Korea? Seoul Will Respond If Beijing Takes Retaliatory Measures, South Korea Says

South Korean Finance Minister Yoo Il-ho said Thursday that China has not taken any direct retaliatory measures against Seoul’s plans to deploy a U.S. anti-ballistic missile system in the Korean Peninsula to deter North Korea. The South Korean media had earlier reported that Beijing unofficially imposed several economic measures on Seoul to assert further pressure against the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system deployment.

"If China officially takes unfair action against South Korea we would openly move against it, but as long as China says its moves are not related to THAAD and rather, local measures at home, the South Korean government cannot accuse China of retaliating," Yoo said.

The minister’s comments came after South Korea's Lotte Group said Wednesday that Chinese officials stopped construction at a multibillion-dollar real estate project in the country’s northeastern Shenyang city following a fire inspection.

According to Yoo, Lotte executives told the South Korean government that the Chinese decisions were not directly related to THAAD.

Beijing has reacted strongly over Washington and Seoul’s plan to deploy the missile system, citing security concerns. Last month, China and Russia — the latter has also opposed the THAAD deployment — agreed to take countermeasures over the installation in a bid to safeguard interests of both the nations and to maintain strategic balance in the Korean Peninsula.

On Jan. 19, Sen. John McCain (R-Arizona) accused China of “bullying” South Korea over THAAD.

“China has cut off charter flights from South Korea, banned imports of South Korean cosmetics and other products, outlawed South Korean music, and threatened South Korean companies. China has done all of this to stop the deployment of a missile defense system, which is only necessary because China has aided and abetted North Korea for decades,” McCain said at the time.